10 Men go out to Dinner - is America there yet?

[John 10:10]

[b]10 Men go out to Dinner... A helpful way to illustrate the tax burden

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing like they do now with the present income tax structure.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59 of the bill.

So that is what the ten men decide to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you all are such good customers I am going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20". Dinner for the 10 men now costs just $80...

The group still wanted to pay the bill the same way that they paid their taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men -- the Paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everybody would get his "Fair Share"?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal…

So, the restaurant owner suggested it would be fair to reduce each mans bill roughly the same amount; and proceeded to work out the amounts each man would pay.

The fifth, like the first four now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth man now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings)

The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings)

The eight man now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)

The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings)

The tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings)

Each of the six was better off then before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings…

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10"…

"Yeah, that’s right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. Its unfair that he got ten times more than me!?"

"That’s true", shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploit’s the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up…

The next night the Tenth man did not show up for dinner, so the Nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half the bill!

And that Boys & Girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier…

Maybe the 10th man didn't show up for dinner because they killed him, and then redistributed his wealth among themselves, thinking they had all won the lottery.

Has anyone looked at what happens to lottery winners who have not learned how to earn wealth, and then steward the blessings of wealth?

The above story is not as improbable as some would think.

Consider these facts:

The top 1% earn 21% of all income, yet pay 39% of the income tax collected by the IRS.

The top 5% earn 36% of all income, yet pay 60% of the income tax collected by the IRS.

This leaves 95% who earn 64% of all income, yet pay only 40% of the income tax collected by the IRS.

Worse still is the 11th man at the table who is paying for what the 9 men can't afford with debt dollars!!!

Almost without exception, countries that are as highly indebted as the US is today grow at sub-par rates. When a nation's debt exceeds 60% of the GDP, its growth rate slows precipituously. When the ratio exceeds 90%, nations' economies barely grow and can even contract. The US national debt is at 84% of our GDP, and will cross the 90% threshold late this year or early next year.

Obama and this administration hope that they can enact their radical health care, bank & car takeovers, and cap & trade agendas, and the economy will bail them out, as it has done every time in the past. But this time is DIFFERENT!!! The economy will not bail us out this time!!! When the 10th man doesn't show up for dinner and the 11th man does, our economy will fail big time, resulting in hyperinflation!!!

Is anybody listening???

Then where will be the ability of America to help the Haiti's of this world???

[John 10:10]

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rise (why is this a surprise???)

New jobless claims unexpectedly rise, more people receive extended benefits

By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer , On Thursday January 21, 2010, 9:12 am

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of newly-laid off workers seeking jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, as the economy recovers at a slow and uneven pace.

Layoffs have slowed and the economy began to grow in last year's third quarter, but companies are reluctant to hire new workers. The unemployment rate is 10 percent and many economists expect it to increase in the coming months.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 482,000. Wall Street economists expected a small drop, according to Thomson Reuters.

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, rose for the first time since August, to 448,250.

The weekly claims figure is volatile and it can take time for trends to emerge. A Labor Department analyst said that much of the increase last week was due to administrative backlogs leftover from the winter holidays in the state agencies that process the claims.

Claims have dropped steadily since last fall, as companies cut fewer jobs. That has caused some economists to hope that hiring may increase soon. Initial claims have dropped by 50,000, or almost 10 percent, since late October.

Still, the economy is not consistently generating net increases in jobs. The Labor Department said earlier this month that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, after adding only 4,000 in November. November's increase was the first in nearly two years.

Many economists say the four week average of claims will need to fall to below 425,000 to signal that the economy is close to generating net job gains.

Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to claim regular benefits dropped slightly to just under 4.6 million. The continuing claims data lags initial claims by a week.

But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits customarily provided by states and are now receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government.

More than 5.9 million are receiving extended benefits in the week ending Jan. 2, the latest data available, an increase of more than 600,000 from the previous week. The data for emergency benefits lags initial claims by two weeks.

The increasing number of people claiming extended unemployment insurance indicates that even as layoffs are declining, hiring hasn't picked up. That leaves people out of work for longer and longer periods of time.

Among the states, California saw the largest increase in claims, with 16,160. Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Georgia saw the next largest increases. The state data lags the initial claims data by a week.

Oregon saw the biggest drop in claims, of 5,784, followed by Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Massachusetts.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Initial-j ... l?x=0&.v=5

[John 10:10]

One more comment about taxes. The bottom 50% of wage earners pay only 5% of all taxes, yet require and get the most government services. The Democrats must keep this 50% solidly in their support, and some of the top 50% to stay in power. In 2008 Obama won by only 52.8% of the vote. When many of the top 50% of wage earners decide enough is enough and start bailing out of the economic system, do you think the bottom 50% of wage earners can pick up the stack?